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A New Deal for Social Housing

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Evidence from Pembroke Park Residents Association Below are a few brief paragraphs provided for this consultation by Suzy Killip, Chair of Pembroke Park Residents Association, on the lack of both proper housing regulations and where regulations do exist, how they are flouted. BACKGROUND: Pembroke Park is a mixed tenure estate of approximately 400 units in Ruislip, North London. ALL tenures have experienced a lack of proper implementation of legal regulations from the builder, Taylor Wimpey and the HA/Management Company, A2 Dominion. This includes poor insulation in the flats and houses, fire regulations in the blocks of flats not adhered to, disrepairs leading to safety issues and a general disregard for the enforcement of legal regulations across the Estate. INSULATION Because Taylor Wimpey are self inspecting and A2 Dominion were appointed by them as the HA and Management Company there is already a conflict of interest. The insulation of all properties across the tenures is substandard and the social housing properties are affected the worst. The buildings were not inspected properly either by TW or by A2D when they took the properties over. Only one of the properties has been rectified after much pressure by us, the PPRA, the Council, Hillingdon, our Councillors and Nick Hurd MP. This was after the very disabled child in the house nearly died 3 times from sleeping in a bedroom that went down to 13 degrees C in the winter and up to 28 degrees C in the summer during heat waves. Heating these properties in the winter from the DH System means that our residents are heating the street and that the cost is exorbitant. Faulty smart meters make the situation worse. Apparently A2D are now taking TW to Court over the matter but in the meantime, nothing is being done to improve the situation for residents and to ensure that the correct amount of insulation is in the properties as per the regulations. DISTRICT HEATING SYSTEM The Eco Log system never worked as it was not correctly installed by Taylor Wimpey and had to be immediately converted to gas and new boilers installed at A2D’s expense. There is a great deal of history to this which we can supply you with. Suffice it to say, the HIU units are irregularly serviced if at all. After several fraught years the boilers do work efficiently now. FIRE SAFETY Our blocks of flats have irregular checks from the Fire Inspection company employed by A2. Many fire cupboards are left open, have broken locks, are full of debris, residents belongings such as push chairs and leave meters and important piping relating to services exposed. Some emergency lights do not work or are broken along with fire and smoke detectors. Few inspection books can be found and in any case the records are not kept up to date. The PPRA have drawn this to the attention of the HA Officer and the Estate/Property Manager on numerous occasions and apart from never receiving a response, nothing has been done to rectify the situation. The Management Company/HA are clearly in breach of the fire regulations. Our MP Nick Hurd, the Fire and Policing Minister is aware of this but he has not responded to us either. DISREPAIRS We have a number of walls which have collapsed in communal areas across the estate which are dangerous to playing children. They have been left in that state for a number of years even though the PPRA, Councillors and individual residents have repeatedly reported the poor workmanship or damage. Again we have a list of this type of disrepair left unrepaired which are clearly in breach of health and safety regulations. VERMIN We have serious vermin issues on the estate because the HA/Management Company do not control their errant tenants and their attitude to fly tipping, littering and general rubbish. This is in breach of environmental regulations. LACK OF SERVICE CHARGE TRANSPARENCY Because there is not real clarity in the regulations relating to Service Charges and proper accounting and simplicity for residents in the documentation that is produced, proper clear regulation must be introduced insisting on estimates running continuously with actuals. We produced templates which A2D refused to implement. We also have no say in which estimates should be accepted for cyclical works so the coat of the work is often exorbitant. The regulations are also lacking in the area of Sink Funds and how they are managed. This needs to be improved and tightened up. TRYING TO GET ACTION We submitted information to the Housing Ombudsman about the fire regulations not being adhered to, environmental issues due to fly tipping causing vermin to thrive, no enforcement of tenancy agreements leading to ASB. No disrepairs being dealt with and no additional insulation being put into the HA properties. No provision of adequate service charge explanations regarding opaque estimates and actúalas. In other words across the board. We also tried the HCA. Both the Housing Ombudsman and the HCA responded negatively as they clearly did not want to take the on the Government, TW and A2D. They said that it was not within their very limited remit. I believe that the HA has now widened its investigations beyond Gas inspections and certificates, this after much pressure. However, I am not at all sure that we would get anywhere even if we started the process again. Governments over the years have all been complicit in allowing the housing sector to collapse and not be fit for purpose. The existing regulations have not been vigorously implemented let alone introducing up to date improved ones across the whole sector. We applied to the Financial Ombudsman re opaque and exorbitant service charges but because the regulations in place are inadequate they did not want to investigate further. Basically there is no one who has the power to really investigate corruption and lack of adherence to regulations. Nick Hurd’s office simply does not respond on the question of fire regulations not being implemented at Pembroke Park and A2D has not responded to any of our five emails, they simply go on charging residents for non existent inspections. Currently I am getting the Council involved over lack of Fire Regulation implementation. Mirror image of Grenfell Tower - Spruce Court, Salford fears disaster At a recent meeting in London between residents of Spruce Court, Salford, and former residents of Grenfell Tower, the Grenfell survivors said that hearing about Spruce Court sent chills up their spine, there were so many similarities. A response from the Deputy Mayor’s office to questions from Fuel Poverty Action has failed to allay Spruce Court residents’ fears. The identical neighbouring building, Thorn, has the same problems, and other Salford buildings are also in danger. Refurbishment, with ACM cladding Grenfell Tower , a 23 storey tower block, was refurbished 2015-16 by Rydon, including ​ replacement of windows, new district heating system, and installation of combustible ACM ​ ​ cladding chosen by Rydon under pressure from the Council to save on costs. ​ ​ Spruce Court , a 22 storey tower block, was refurbished 2013-16 by Keepmoat in a PFI ​ ​ scheme, including replacement of windows, new NIBE heating system, and installation of combustible ACM cladding. Cladding has only been removed from the bottom three floors, with a two year schedule for finishing the work on this and surrounding blocks. Windows Grenfell Tower A late change to the window position, moving it out from the solid concrete structure, created ‘filled gaps’ around the sides where fire could break through. Spruce Court ​ Windows not fitted properly, not flush, not closing right, let in draughts and traffic noise. Regularly fall off their hinges, and one fell off completely. In June Pendleton Together sent a letter round telling Spruce Court residents to keep all their windows closed until further notice: impossible in the hot summer. Residents can’t stay in their homes, can’t cook, and can’t survive in the heat if unwell. Electrical surges ​ ​ Grenfell Tower Dozens of residents of Grenfell Tower suffered electricity power surges so strong that their appliances malfunctioned, overheated and emitted smoke a few years before the fire. Documents seen by the BBC revealed how 25 residents claimed compensation from the ​ ​ council following the surges in 2013. Some say electricity problems persisted into the months before June's fire. Grenfell Action Group blog, 2013: “The Grenfell Action Group believe that the KCTMO ​ narrowly averted a major fire disaster at Grenfell Tower in 2013 when residents experienced a period of terrifying power surges that were subsequently found to have been caused by faulty wiring. We believe that our attempts to highlight the seriousness of this event were covered up by the KCTMO with the help of the RBKC Scrutiny Committee who refused to investigate the legitimate concerns of tenants and leaseholders.” Spruce Court Repeated problems since refurbishment. In one case, a surge turned the hob on on a cooker, and then all the electrics in the flat cut out. Without checking the electrics, Pendleton Together electrician blamed the cooker. The tenant had to pay to get the cooker tested – it was just out of warranty. Nothing wrong with it. Other people had the same problem. Several times the whole block has had no power. No lifts, no explanation. Tenants have to walk down to bottom of building only to be told “there’s a problem with the electrics”. After Grenfell the HA said they will come round and check, but the outages continue. At other times electrics have been affected by water from burst pipes: another frequent problem, flooding people’s walls, carpets and possessions. They are told it’s an old building that can’t cope with the power showers introduced with the refurbishment.
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